WeTried Translations

Translator: Goku

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became a Villain Perfect for Leveling Up

Chapter 018

──────

Forgotten Heart Resonance (2)

The sensation of walking barefoot on the dirt floor was painful.

Each time I stepped on small pebbles, pain flared, and twigs scattered on the ground sharply pricked my feet.

Even though calluses had formed thickly on my feet recently, the intensity of the pain was no different from before.

I wasn't unaware it was a foolish choice.

That's why I deliberately sought out this suffering.

“…Dean.”

As the wounds grew to the point where bloodstains were left on the path, Carmen, unable to bear it any longer, spoke.

“I’m really fine. You wear the shoes.”

As she carefully untied the laces, trying to take off the shoes, I stopped again and tied the loosened laces for her.

“…Are you trying to have a battle of wills with me?”

Seemingly uncomfortable with that action, Carmen reached out again to untie the shoe laces.

“Ugh…?”

Not wanting a childish fight to continue, I laced my fingers through hers.

“When I put them on you, you didn’t resist at all, but now that I’m in pain, you’re worried?”

“I clearly said I was fine…”

“And yet?”

I gently pushed Carmen against a tree behind her.

Even though she had ample strength to resist, she was naturally pushed back, merely staring at me with trembling eyes.

“I underst…and…”

As she accepted my coercion with a voice full of tension, only then did I release our clasped hands and turn away.

“….”

Carmen stared blankly at me, walking away with a flushed face, then slowly began to follow again.

After that, Carmen didn't try to take off the shoes.

When I occasionally winced from pain, all she did was cast a low gaze my way.

Blood and pus flowed from the numerous wounds on my feet.

As my mind felt a little more at ease, the pain seemed less severe than before.

…Hypocrisy born of empathy.

I wished this action would be interpreted as hypocrisy.

Arriving at the Forgotten Heart Resonance, I would help her with her task. Then, I would leave freely to do my own work.

I decided to conclude my relationship with Carmen in that way.

“Shall we rest here for now?”

As lunchtime approached, we stopped moving for a short break.

“I’ll go find some edible berries.”

While at the Altar of Lamentation, it hadn't mattered much if I starved, but now that we were on an adventure, stamina was paramount, so this time I didn't refuse food.

The purple berries Carmen brought tasted like nothing I had ever eaten before.

Berries characterized by a unique taste combining lime and strawberry aromas simultaneously.

“These are bear nettle berries. They don’t depend on specific conditions, so they grow everywhere, making them good to eat when you’re hungry.”

Carmen told me they were perfectly fine to eat raw, so I made a mental note.

I don't know if I can return to Earth, but if by chance I can't, I'll have to manage meals on my own.

“Here. See the leaves? The leaves look like a bear’s paw pads, which is why it’s called bear nettle.”

When I looked at Carmen, who was sharing knowledge I didn’t particularly need, with an emotionless gaze, she belatedly blushed and threw the leaf to the ground.

“Did I do something wrong…?”

It was the first time seeing her with such a personality, so I had given her a somewhat curious look, but it seemed my meaning was misinterpreted due to my appearance.

“It’s nothing. Thanks for the information.”

I rolled a berry with my fingers, then put the last remaining one into my mouth.

The sweetness, felt after a long time, was an overwhelming sensation.

Due to my blurred vision from an unsound mind, I hadn't properly examined the surroundings, but when I focused and looked around, bear nettle berries were everywhere.

As I quietly wondered if such berries had appeared in the game, I remembered they were easily obtainable consumable recovery items.

…In the 1st Playthrough, my level was 999, so there was no reason to care about stamina at all, making it understandable I'd forget.

As I ate something that could properly be called food, my appetite returned, and I stood up to harvest more berries.

“I’ll bring them.”

Carmen had me stay seated and brought the berries instead.

“You don’t have to bother with it.”

When I indirectly expressed gratitude while receiving the berries, her eyebrows slightly twisted for a moment.

“…Bother?”

“Hm?”

“Dean…. Can you not see how serious your feet are right now?”

I had thought she was showing contempt because I had thanked her, but it turned out Carmen was worried about the condition of my feet.

Lowering my gaze to examine, my feet were severely bruised, with torn and scraped skin visible.

…There doesn’t seem to be any particular problem.

When I go to the Forgotten Heart Resonance, the checkpoint will change, so if I die and resurrect there, all wounds will disappear.

As such, these wounds meant nothing to me.

“There doesn’t seem to be any problem.”

When I conveyed exactly what I thought, Carmen's shoulders trembled as if she was momentarily overcome with emotion.

She seemed about to speak, but perhaps realizing persuasion wouldn't work, she soon untied her shoelaces, took off her shoes, and threw them at me.

The thrown shoes weakly rolled to my feet and stopped.

It was an action filled with strong emotion, but I picked up the shoes again, intending to put them on Carmen.

“I don’t need them!”

Carmen, unable to restrain herself, slapped my cheek.

“…Don’t be hypocritical like that. …It’s disgusting.”

Her slap, delivered with superhuman strength, split my lip, and blood flowed out.

“….”

…As expected, no one believes my sincerity.

My existence will never be able to close the distance with Carmen, no matter what happens.

If there’s no one who believes in my unspoken sincerity, then I at least wanted to believe in that sincerity myself.

That's why I moved my hands again.

I brushed off the dirt from the shoes that had rolled on the floor and neatly placed them before Carmen's feet again.

As I then raised my gaze to look at her, an incredulous look was directed at me.

“…I told you it was disgusting.”

“Yeah.”

“Why are you suddenly doing this to me….”

“…Even if I tell you, you won’t believe me.”

We cannot trust each other.

Carmen, reminded of this unchanging law, trembled in her eyes.

After finishing my words, I stood up.

I walked past Carmen, who was close enough to feel her breath, leaving the shoes behind, and intended to head towards the Forgotten Heart Resonance.

“Haa…, Dean…”

At that moment, her voice reached me.

Turning my head, I saw Carmen, wearing the untied shoes, looking at me.

“…I don’t know how to tie the laces, so help me.”

I don't know what got into her.

But Carmen wore my shoes.

“Alright.”

I slowly approached Carmen and tied her shoelaces.

I tied them in a knot that would tighten further under pressure, so they wouldn't come undone on the way.

During the short time I tied the laces, I felt something hardened within me melt away.

Afterward, I got up again to head towards the Forgotten Heart Resonance.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Kuh-hok…!”

Carmen lightly struck the back of my neck with the edge of her hand.

The artery passing through my neck was instantly and strongly pressed, blocking the blood vessels, and I collapsed weakly to the floor without even being able to resist.

《 Checkpoint designated ▶ Forgotten Heart Reson■nce 》

As my consciousness slowly returned, a window indicating the checkpoint had changed appeared.

It seemed Carmen had knocked me out and brought me here.

As I lifted my eyelids, a small hideout with dull, heavy air settling within came into view.

Furniture so old it looked not just neglected for months, but for hundreds of years.

And naturally, thick layers of dust.

Seeing no sign of Carmen around, it seemed she had arrived at this Resonance and then gone on her way.

The shoes…, it seems she took them.

I quietly prayed for her reunion with her father to be successful.

“…Ugh.”

I now felt it was time for me to find a way back to Earth, but the wounds on my feet seemed to have festered deep, causing extreme pain, making me unable to stand.

Eventually, thinking this wouldn't do, I pulled out Freud’s Fang, which I had tucked into my pants belt, and tried to commit suicide.

“Don’t do it.”

Carmen, whom I thought had left, coincidentally entered the hideout and hastily grabbed my wrist, preventing my suicide.

“Don’t stop me.”

“What do you gain by dying and coming back to life like that?”

“It’s better than being in pain.”

“…Are you saying death is better than pain?”

She didn’t understand my way of thinking.

If I resurrect even after experiencing death, is there really a need to endure pain and recover?

“Aren’t you going to let go?”

I need to die and resurrect right away to search for a way back to Earth.

But spending time on such useless wrangling was making me irritable.

“No.”

But Carmen's will was as resolute as mine.

“Something is wrong with you.”

“That’s not your concern.”

The time being wasted like this was too precious, so I hastily moved my hand and gripped the blade.

My palm was cut, blood seeped into Freud's Fang, and it began to transform into a whip-sword.

But Carmen skillfully grabbed the hilt, snatching away Freud’s Fang.

“Aaaargh…!!”

Because I had been gripping the blade tightly, all my fingers were severed the moment Freud's Fang was wrenched away.

Immediately, a potent venom seeped into the cross-section of my severed fingers, all but my thumb, and blood vessels burst in my eyes, causing tears of blood to flow.

The venom spreading throughout my body was so excruciating that I passed out without even being able to scream.

“…!! I, I didn’t mean… to do that…”

Carmen belatedly realized what she had done, but it was far too late to fix it.

“…….”

Suffering from paralysis and shedding tears of blood, I stared at Carmen until, not long after, the venom reached my heart, and I lost my life.

《 Perk ‘Addicted to Defeat’ activated!

- Target ‘Carmen’s’ level increases by 10. 》

《 Resurrecting at checkpoint¿ LOADING… 》

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried